


Elevator AU

by HangonIknowthisone



Category: IT (2017) RPF, IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, If You Squint - Freeform, M/M, NO DEATH, just fun, no beta we die like men, no pennywise, slight Stan/Bill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 17:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20679203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HangonIknowthisone/pseuds/HangonIknowthisone
Summary: Prompt: “You are in a typical awkward elevator ride with a group of people. Suddenly a man says ‘so, I bet you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you here’ before hitting the emergency stop button.”





	Elevator AU

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm British and I'm gonna write 'elevator' as 'lift' a lot 'cuz it's quicker and that's what we call them here. Also, this hasn't been beta'd so feel free to throw mistakes and possible corrections at me :)

_“Go to college, _they said. _It’ll be the best years of your life, _they said. So far, it’s just been stress with a side-order of anxiety. I’d like a refund please.”

Eddie was not a happy boy, no siree. Three essays in one fucking week! He swore his professors were trying to weed out the weak-willed. ‘Well, jokes on you fuckers; I’ve got determination in spades.’

Currently, the only forces keeping him upright were caffeine and pure stubbornness. At least he could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel – he just had the one essay to hand in and then it’d all be over. You know, until the next one … but Eddie was choosing not to think about that lest he break down into a puddle of hysterical tears.

“I swear to god, if I get anything below a B heads will be fucking rolling. Starting with that loud motherfucker next door.” His angry muttering was met with a few confused, slightly disturbed looks but he payed them no mind. He didn’t have the time; he was currently speeding his way over to his biology professors’ office to hand in his last essay and he only had an hour left to do so. He weaved his way around a few groups of people loitering around and smacked his shin into a table.

Limping slightly, he headed over to the heavy double doors and struggled to pull one open before it finally gave way and he continued to hobble on down the hall towards the lift. There was already about six people waiting for it when he eventually pulled up in front of the doors, doubled over and gasping.

“Dude, you okay?” He heard from above him and he flapped his hand feebly in the general direction of the voice.

“Just… peachy.” He wheezed out, fumbling in his pocket for his inhaler and taking a deep puff of it. He straightened up in time to see the lift doors open and stood aside slightly to let the others in first. It was a bit of a tight fit, but they all managed to pack themselves in – albeit with some uncomfortable touching (he swore he felt someone’s hand brush against his ass).

He breathed a deep sigh of relief as the elevator doors closed and they began to travel upwards, his breathing starting to level out and his shoulders dropping from their tensed-up form. Eddie then took stock of the people he was currently imitating sardines with. There were five guys and one girl, all of them silent and just glancing at each other as they shifted awkwardly in place. To Eddie’s immediate right was a tall-ass motherfucker with ridiculously big glasses and dark, curly hair. He was currently tapping his hand incessantly against the wall of the lift and shifting his leg, accidentally nudging Eddie a few times. There was another curly-haired boy behind him, clutching a textbook and glaring at the fidgeting boy. To Eddie’s left was the girl, her red hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail and a cigarette tucked behind one ear. She was humming a song under her breath and swaying slightly to the rhythm. This apparently was entrancing to the boy behind her, who couldn’t stop staring in awe, his cheeks lightly flushed pink. He was about an inch or two taller than Eddie and stocky, with gentle eyes. Next to him was another tall boy with bright eyes and a kind smile, notebook clasped in his hands. The last boy looked like he had been carved out of a solid block of ebony. He had headphones on, and his eyes closed, nodding his head to the beat.

After the third nudge from the boy to his right he was about ready to turn and yell at him when the boy himself spoke up and broke the silence.

“So, I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here,” he said in a mock-mysterious voice before slamming his hand onto the emergency button. The lift came to an abrupt halt, jolting them all.

“Hey, what the fuck asshole!” Eddie rounded on him, watching the boy giggle to himself and rock back and forth on his heels.

The others were all glaring at the boy now.

“Yeah dude, why’d you do that?” The one with the notebook asked, frowning.

The annoying dick, as Eddie had dubbed him, shrugged. “It was getting a tad too silent in here, I needed to break the ice somehow.”

“And you couldn’t think of anything else?!” The angry boy behind Annoying Dick intoned. “Some of us have places to be, dickwad.”

Eddie was about to add to what the boy said but a tinny voice interrupted him.

“Hi, sorry but we’re currently servicing another lift over on the east side so it’ll be about an hour before we can get out to you. So sorry for the delay.”

Eddie froze. _An hour? One whole hour?! _

“FUCK.” He spun and punched the grinning boy in the arm.

“OW, asshole! What was that for?!”

“I have an essay due in an hour, MOTHERFUCKER.” He wound up for another punch but was stopped by a strong grip around his arm.

“Hey, hitting him isn’t going to help. Just try to calm down.” The boy with the headphones said, his voice deep and calming.

“It’ll make me feel better though.” He retorted, reluctantly dropping his arm.

Annoying Dick chuckled slightly and shook out his arm. “Gotta admit, you’ve got one hell of a right-hook for someone so short, cutie.” He smirked at him and winked.

“Short? Motherf- “

“Hey no, calm, remember?” His arm was recaptured, and he was tugged to the left.

“Ugh, fine – I’m calm. Totally zen.” Eddie turned away from Annoying Dick and breathed deeply, focusing on the red light of the floor number, willing it to magically move. No such luck.

“So short stuff, you got a name?”

Eddie slapped away Annoying Dick’s hand, huffing a sarcastic laugh.

“Yeah, why?”

“I wanna win brownie points with your mom. Always helps to get on the kids’ good side.” He answered with a grin.

“Shut it, fucker.”

“Alright, alright.” He shrugged and nodded.

“… So, where did we land on that name?”

“Will you shut up if I tell you?” He sighed. _Don’t punch him again, it’s not worth it._

“Maaaybe.”

Eddie sighed again. “Fine. Eddie.”

“Nice to meet you, Eds. I’m Richie.”

“Do not fucking call me that.” He deadpanned, turning to see what the others were doing.

“Would you prefer Eddie Spaghetti?”

The notebook kid had slid to the floor and was now drawing, looking up every so often. Next to him the kid with the headphones had curled up into a ball, eyes closed.

“Aw, come on Spaghetti, don’t ignore me. We were bonding.” No response.

“Eds. Eddie. Eddie Spaghetti. Edward. Eduardo. Edddiiieee- “

“Oh my god, shut the fuck up.” Angry boy snapped, looking up from his textbook.

“_Thank you._ Good to know he doesn’t just annoy me.” Eddie turned and smiled at Angry Boy in annoyed solidarity.

“Don’t be like that cutie. This is all part of my charm.” Annoying Dick pouted at him; eyes wide.

“How unfortunate for you.” Eddie deadpanned and Angry Boy snorted.

“I’m Stan, by the way,” he said, offering his hand to Eddie.

“Eddie,” he replied, shaking his hand.

“Oh, are we exchanging names now? I’m Beverly, but I prefer Bev.” The girl – Bev – said, waving slightly and smiling.

“I-I’m Ben. It’s nice to meet you Bev.” Blushing Boy smiled, then hastily added, “Nice to meet you all!”

The others all snorted, and Ben flushed brighter pink.

“How about you?” Stan asked Notebook Boy, nudging him gently with his foot.

“Huh?” He looked up, blinking. “How a-ab-about me, w-what?”

“Apparently we’re all getting chummy now.” Richie answered before Stan could reply.

“Well, SOMEONE has made sure that we’re all stuck here for an hour, so we might as well.” Eddie retorted with a pointed glare in Richie’s direction.

“How else was I supposed to learn your name?” He said in reply.

“Asking, like a normal fucking person. Not trapping me for an hour in an elevator.”

Richie blinked, like the thought of asking people their names was an absurd idea, and said, “Nah, this is more fun. Like a meet-cute.”

“No part of this situation is cute, asshole.”

“What’re you talking about Eds, you’re plenty cute.”

Eddie flushed slightly and glared at the floor, huffing. “Don’t call me that.”

He shrugged his sleeves over his hands and covered his face.

“Cute cute cute!” Richie chimed, ruffling Eddie’s hair.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Eddie yelled, the others all watching in amusement.

Stan turned back to Notebook Boy. “So, we never did get your name.” He rolled his eyes in Richie’s direction, who was currently trying to pry Eddie’s hands away from his face and laughing at every insult Eddie hurled his way.

“I-it’s Bill,” he answered, smiling up at Stan. He gestured at the napping boy: “That’s M-mike. He t-told me to w-wake him when i-it’s time to go.” Stan nodded. His eyes drifted downwards, and he caught a glimpse of Bill’s notebook. It was a drawing of him, face turned to his textbook and brow furrowed in concentration.

“Oh wow, that’s really good.” He commented, blushing a little.

“Wha – Oh!” Bill’s eyes widened and he moved to cover the drawing, glancing around frantically. “S-sorry, I sh-should’ve asked f-first.”

“No, it’s fine. Really,” Stan said, smiling down at him. Bill’s returning smile was warm.

“So, w – “

“CUTE!” They jumped at the loud exclamation and looked back to Richie who had successfully uncovered Eddie’s face and was now pinching his cheek.

“Get the FUCK OFF.” Eddie was slapping at Richie’s hand and scowling. “And fucking stop with the teasing already.”

“But Eds suits you, it’s short and sweet like you.” Richie winked, retracting his stinging hand.

“No, the cute thing. But you can stop with the nicknames too, thanks.” Eddie crossed his arms and went back to glaring at the floor.

Richie frowned slightly in confusion. “But – “

“SO, Bev. What’s your major?” Stan asked loudly to Eddie’s relief. He didn’t really want to hear the reasoning behind Richie’s teasing, thanks.

“Huh? Oh, um, majoring in Fashion Design and minoring in Photography.” She smiled, slightly bemused at the sudden topic change. “How about you?”

“Accounting.” Stan glared at Richie fiercely, cutting off his teasing remark. “I like numbers.”

“That’s cool. I think I’ve seen you in a few of my lectures. You look a bit familiar.” Ben said.

Stan shrugged. “Probably, it’s a big class though.”

“What’s your major then Ben?” Bev asked.

“Architecture.”

“Oh cool.” She said, eyes glittering. “I actually took an architecture class at the beginning of the year. It was an accident though; I was in the wrong room.” She laughed. “It looked really interesting though. Some of the designs were amazing.”

“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone that red before,” Richie muttered under his breath loud enough for Eddie to hear. Eddie laughed quietly and nodded.

“Eddie Spaghetti agreeing with li’l ol’ me? Be still my beating heart.” Richie teased, clutching at his chest.

Eddie glowered, just realising that he had, in fact, agreed with Richie. _Fuck, don’t encourage him._

“I knew I’d wear you down eventually Eds. Like mother like son, huh?” Richie goaded.

“Fuck off, Richie.” Eddie elbowed him in the stomach, reveling in the winded ‘oof’ he got in return. “Will you shut the fuck up about my mom?”

“But you’re so cute when you’re all riled up, Spaghetti.” Richie cooed, rubbing at his stomach absently.

“Seriously? Again, with the cute thing?” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’m surprised. Most people go with the height jokes. Or the shorts.” He mused.

Richie’s eyes dropped down to said shorts and widened slightly. They were VERY short. He shook his head and retorted, “While those are _very _short and many jokes do come to mind, I wasn’t actually teasing you." Catching Eddie’s disbelieving stare, he added: “Completely anyway.”

“Uhuh, sure you weren’t.” Eddie said sarcastically.

Richie sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Hi, I’m Richie Tozier and, when flirting, I tend to adopt the playground method – pull the metaphorical pigtails.”

Eddie’s eyes widened and he stared at Richie, searching for any sign that he was being fucked with. After a minute of staring Richie began to squirm and opened his mouth again but was beaten to the punch by Eddie.

“Metaphorical is a big word for you, Richie. You sure you know what it means?” He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

“Hey, I know things.” At the doubtful looks thrown his way he elaborated, “For instance – “

“Say one more word about my mother and I’ll knee you in the dick.” Eddie warned, though his lips were twitching slightly upwards.

Richie mimed zipping his mouth shut and leaned back against the wall.

“Hello, sorry again for the wait but, good news: we’ll be able to get to you sooner than we thought. Should just be another 10 minutes.”

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank fuck. I won’t be late.”

He glanced over at Richie and- did he look disappointed? Richie leant forward and tugged Eddie’s sleeve to get his attention.

“Hey, so you won’t hit me if I ask for your number, right? I’ve kind of wanted to ask for a while now.” He smiled sheepishly.

Eddie frowned. “We’ve only been here for about 20 minutes.”

Richie’s eyes widened and he flushed bright red (there was a quiet snort from Stan in the background).

“Yeah um, so … I live like, right next door to you and I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while now. “He laughed nervously, avoiding Eddie’s gaze.

“You mean you’re that annoying motherfucker that blares music at 2am?!” Eddie exclaimed. “Some people like to sleep you know!”

And then the rest of what Richie said filtered into his brain. _Wait, really? He’s not kidding?_

Eddie stared for a bit while Richie rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Oh right, sorry about that. I didn’t really think you could hear me.” He dropped his hand and sighed. “So that’s a no on the number front? Cool, cool – and uh, sorry again about the music th – “

“I didn’t say no.” Eddie blurted out; eyes wide in surprise.

“Huh?” Hope sparked in Richie’s eyes.

“You asked but I never got to answer.”

“Oh right.” They stared some more before Richie prompted, “Sooo…?”

“R-right! Um, hang on.” Eddie stammered out, rooting through his bag for his phone.

(“Dear god, this is all kinds of awkward. W- are you filming this Stan?” “You never know when you might need blackmail.”)

Eddie unlocked his phone and handed it to Richie, who did the same with a blinding grin. They inputted their numbers and passed back each other’s phone.

“So, I’ll text you later?”

“Yeah, great.” Eddie smiled, blushing.

They all jolted suddenly when the lift rumbled back to life and began moving upwards before stopping at Eddie’s floor. He stepped out and looked over his shoulder at Richie who smiled and winked before the doors closed.

He was hurrying down the corridor when he heard his phone buzz.

Richie<3: Miss you already Eds.

Eddie: Shut up, idiot.

Richie<3: You wound me Spagheds!

Eddie: Sure I do dickwad. And oh my god, that’s even worse than the others! Please don’t call me that.

Richie<3: Whatever you say cutie ;) 


End file.
